Suricata suricatta again, this time in the Zoo Rostock. This guy was obviously longing for a beer and cool sunglasses!

The Rostock zoo is evidently run on a meager budget, but they try really hard to be special (another post-to-be). Many of the enclosures have been remodeled on the last few years, including the one for the meerkats (LOL – the spell checker doesn’t know “meerkats”, but suggests “beermats”). It is nicely done with a lot of relief so that little kids can watch the animals easily, but adults don’t look down at them. Stupid as it sounds, not looking down at animals is a big point when educating the public is your aim. From above, everything looks smaller and less important, so it is much harder to fascinate people (and keep them from throwing things at animals, too).

Additionally, there is a tunnel under the enclosure, with a window from which you can enjoy the view a meetkat has when leaving its burrow. The tunnel is too low for adults, so I went along with aching knees and in constant danger of bumping my head. My kids, on the other hand, immediately grasped the opportunity to play catch and have a lot of fun. Sadly, the zoo forgot to add steps in front of the window, so kids can only check out the meerkats from “within” the group is there is an adult present to lift them up (banging his head in the process, usually).